Horror Stories: Classic Tales from Hoffmann to Hodgson, Edited by Darryl Jones

Horror Stories, an Oxford World Classics anthology, hasn’t a weak link in its 29-story chain.  Authors represented in this volume include Honore de Balzac, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Bram Stoker.

Stories written by authors lesser known to modern readers are as good as the rest. For example The Repairer of Reputations, by Robert W. Chambers, is a science-fiction psychological thriller and one of the weirdest and most disturbing stories you’d ever want to read. Chambers, by the way, as we learn from editor Darryl Jones, was quite well-known and influential in his day — admired by and an inspiration to no less a horror hall-of-famer than H. P. Lovecraft.

I won’t even attempt to describe these stories; they are best read cold. This is why Jones wisely recommends reading his illuminating introduction after reading the stories unless you are already familiar with them. So in lieu of a review, I’ll submit my anthology “awards,” for whatever they are worth.

• Weirdest Story – The Repairer of Reputations, by Robert W. Chambers
• Most Exciting Story – The Derelict, by William Hope Hodgson
• Most Revolting Story – Berenice — A Tale, by Edgar Allan Poe
• Most Elegant Plot – Tie: La Grand Breteche, by Honore de Balzac; and, The Case of Lady Sannox, by Arthur Conan Doyle.
• Eeriest Atmosphere – The Wendigo, by Algernon Blackwood
• Best Ending – a three-way tie: Chickamanga, by Ambrose Bierce; The Squaw, by Bram Stoker; and, The Monkey’s Paw, by W. W. Jacobs

These awards are of course very subjective. None of the stories disappoints, from start to finish.

One warning: This is no easy read. The formal and dated style, and obscure references, especially in the earlier stories, take a bit of effort to digest. This may be a blessing in disguise, though: reading slowly will help you savor the terror all the more.

The editing is first-class. In addition to the excellent introduction, Jones’s judicious footnotes provide fascinating background and clarify references in the stories few modern readers are likely to understand.